Shipping unit



Dec. 18, 1956 A. K. STRONG 2,774,490

SHIPPING UNIT Filed D60. 50, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. AK. STRONG,

I MWWM A. K. STRONG Dec. 18, 1956 SHIPPING UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledDec. 30, 1954 INVENTOR. 14. K, STRONG MM. aw

United States Patent 2,774,490 v SHIPPING UNIT AllenvK. Strong,Larchmont, N. Y., assignor to American Cyanamid Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Maine I Application December 30, 1954, Serial No.478,746 The terminal portion of the term of the patent subsequent toJanuary 4, 1972, has been disclaimed 4 Claims. (Cl. 214-10.5)

This invention is directed to the lifting and moving of packagedmaterial and ,has'for its principal object the conversion of .suchpackaged materials into a unit that can be lifted, moved and stacked, bya lift truck. ,A further-object is the provision of an improved liftingskid that is so inexpensive that it can economically become'a part of apackaged load so that the consignee can utilize a similar lift truck inunloading the car.

In transporting packages at a single locality such as between'awarehouse and a loading area it is now the practice to stack a number ofsuch packages on a pallet, which is a small'platform under which theforks of a lift truck can be inserted. By this procedure a number ofpackages can be moved by the truck at one time without manual handling.However, such pallets are not well adapted for shipping along with theload for a number of reasons including their expense and additionalweight in the; load, particularly with theextensive bracing necessarywhen the support of the lift truck is withdrawn and the factthat itisnot feasible to stack one palleted pile on top of another-.gltistherefore customary to lift the packages from the palletsand stack themin a box car or truckby hand and to unload the car or truck by hand atthe receiving point. I v 4 Inemy eopending'application Serial No.400,257, filed Decemben24, 1953, now Patent No. 2,698,696, I havedescribed and claimed one form of a shipping unit made up of apile offilled bags resting on a skid consisting of a pair of "parallel liftingtubes positioned under their outer ends and connectedby a web of paperor other flexible material This arrangementsolves the problem ofhandling relatively large bags the length of which is equal a of theinvention. a

2,774,490 Patented Dec. 18, 1956 ice The invention will be described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of one form of lifting skid provided and used inaccordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 shows two shipping units, each consisting of interlocking coursesof bags or other packages positioned on the skid of Fig. l, stacked inshipping position as in a box car. f.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are diagrammatic illustrations of package arrangementsin one ofthe courses of Fig. 2, the liftingv tubes being. indicated bydotted, lines;

Fig. 6, is a perspective brapanic'nr embodiment wherein bags having alength equal to the width of the pile are substituted for-the web of thelifting skid, and

Fig. 7 is a detail, of the arrangement of Fig. 6, showing how the tubesare glued to' thebags in thisembodirnen t' Referring to Figs. 1 and 2,the lifting skid indicated generally by reference numeral 1 consistsessentially of a pair of tubes 2 and 3 with a flexible web 4 attachedthereto. The tubes 2 and 3 are preferably composed of spirally woundmulti-layer cardboard or'other material thatis relatively light inweight but sufiiciently strong to the width of the pile, sothat thebottom bags extend from; o'neside of the pile to the other. I My presentinvention is directed to an improved combination that has a wider rangeof utility, since it can be used with bags or other packages of smallersize that do not extend through the pile or, stated otherwise, withpiles which are wider than the length of the packages.

. 1 In the shipping unit of the present invention a lifting skidconsisting essentially of a pair of parallel tubes and a connectingwebis located longitudinallyunder a pile to support the weights appliedthereto, as will subsequently be explained. Their length is preferablyequal to the length of the pile of bags or other packages to be moved,as shown in Fig. 6, and the diameter of their central openings 5 and 6is such as to permit easy entrance of the forks of a lift truck. The webportion 4 consists of a sheet of paper or other similar flexiblematerial having its ends looped around the-'tubesand joined together,either by a seam or glued joint 7 or by gluing or stapling to itsadjacent surface, The outer surfaces of the tubes '2 and 3 may be gluedor otherwise attached to the web but this it not usually necessary. Thewidth of the web 4, corresponding to the distance between the centers ofthe tubes 2 and 3, is so calculated as to impart maximum stability tothe shipping unit, as will subsequently be excourse contains -,onelongitudinally disposed packages 8 .of bagsv or :other oblong packageshaving a certain definite arrangement with respect thereto, instead ofbeing outside thespile as in my earlier invention.-- I have. found thata stable unit, capable of being transported without disintegration bysuch a lifting skid, is obtained by arranging the packages of the pileas interlocking-layers in .theform of oppositely disposed courses, eachcourse having a longitudinally disposed package at one side of thepileand adjacentcourses having a longitudinally disposed package onopposite sides of the pile, when the tubes of the lifting skid arelocated centrally under these longitudinally disposed packages. In thisarrangement the transversely disposed packages of all the, intermediatecourses are 'heldinplace'by-the weight of thelongi- ,tudinally extendingpackages above them, and therefore the web connecting the tubesneedf'only besufliciently .z jst'r'onggto keep the unbalancedtransversely extending bags ioflthe'l'bottor n'coursefrom working loose.This permits tlieiweb to be-made of relatively. light and cheap materialsuch as papenburlap and the like.

and one transversely disposed package 9 in abutting relationship andFig. 5 shows a course consisting of two longitudinal packages 8 laid endto end along the length of the pile and three transverse packages 9 laidside by side with their ends against the'first, two. It will be'notedthat a pile composed of the courses of Fig. 3 is relatively more stablethan are piles wherein the courses are arranged as in Figs. land 5,since in Fig. 3 there is one bag. in each courseextending from one sideof the pile tothe other. However in'all three cases thereis notsuflicient transverse strength'or rigidity at the center of the pile toenable it to behandledfby lift fork-engaging tubes under the outer sidecorners thereof, as described inmy ,copending application, because ofthe break between the bags in the'central portion of the pile. I havefound,howeverfthat'stacks or pilescomposed of courses of the above andsimilar types,'wherein :the width of the pile contains two'fpackageslaid side by side, side to end, or end to end, can be handledsuccessfully'by locating'a lifting tubeunder the center of gravity ofone or more .of thebags of one set of courses,"the other tube being"located an' 'equal distance fromthe-opposite side of thepileandtherefore b'eingdocated; nder f the center ;,of

gravity of the corresponding bag or bags of the alternate courses.

When the bottom course of the pile is similar to the remaining courses,as is usually the case and as is illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings,the transverse bags 9 of this course are not properly balanced on one orboth of the lifting tubes and would therefore tend to work loose if notproperly supported. When this condition exists the concerning web 4 ofFig. 1 is necessary to hold the unbalanced ends of the bottom bags inplace. In the great majority of cases, therefore, a completeliftingski'd of the type shown in Fig. 1 will be necessary and will beemployed. Fig. 6 of the drawings illustrates 'a special case, however;wherein the width of the pile is not greater than the length of the bagsor other oblong packagesnndthe package arrangement of Fig. 3 is used inthe upper courses; under these circumstances the lowermosbcourse of thepile can consist entirely of packages 1'0 laid side by side across'thepile and the tubes can be attached tov the bottom surfaces of thesepackages by a layer of glue 111 as shown in Fig. 7. In this arrangement'the .bottom course of the packages, wherein each package it) extendsacross the pile from one side to the other, serves the same purpose thatis effected by tle web 4 in other piles, and therefore in thisarrangement a separate web can be dispensed with.

The oblong packages illustrated in the drawings are filled bags such asthe multi-layer paper bags used in packaging granular materials such asgranular phthalic anhydride, crystalline melamine and urea, Wood flour,grain and other similar materials. Packages of these materials areusually from SJlbs. to 100 lbs. net; a typical 50 1b. bag is 28% incheslong, '15 inches wide and 5 inches thick when filled. Atypical class oflarger bags is 37% inches long, 18 /2 inches wide and 5 inches thickwhen filled. Bags of these and similar types are customarily arranged inpiles about 50 to 60 inches square, when the pinwheel arrangement ofFig. 4 is used, or of comparable dimensions using the arrangements ofFig. 3, Fig. 5 and the like.

'My invention is particularly well adapted for use with such baggedmaterial, since the tubes 2 and 3 become indented or impressed into theyieldable surfaces of the bags, usually by displacing laterally some ofthe overlying granular or powdered material, and therefore the tubes donot have to sustain the full weightof the load. Experience has shown, infact, that with most bagged materials the tubes 2 and 3 need only besuflicientlyrigid to sustain about 25% of the weight of the pile whenthey are resting on a solid and unyieldable surface such as the floor ofa box car or truck, since the tubes become impressed into the bags asshown on Fig. 7 of the drawings and the remainder of the weight of thepile is transmitted to and carried by the supporting surface. When thepiles are stacked on each other, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, theweight carried by the tubes above the bottom unit is even less, sincethese tubes are impressed into the upper surfaces of the underlying pileas well asinto the bottom surfaces of the course immediately above.It'will be understood, however, that the inventionin itsbroader aspectsis not limited to bagged material, since the principles thereof can beapplied with success to oblong cartons, bales and other packages thatare conveniently stacked in courses and handled as unit loads.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that .my presentinvention provides both a novel lifting skid for pile of oblongpackages, characterized by such lightweight and low-cost that it can beshipped aspartof the load and utilized forgunloading the car or.truck bythe consignee, and alsoa shipping unit wherein this lifting skidconstitutes an essential element. In this unit one ormore longitudinallyextending packages of alternate courses are located directly over one ofthe'tubes of the skid with the 'en ds of transversely extending packagespf intermediate courses between them. When the pile is lifted thelongitudinal packages are therefore balanced on the tube and theirweight holds the transverse packages in place in all the intermediatecourses. This occurs on both sides of the pile and therefore a stableunit is provided in which only the unbalanced transverse packages of thebottom course require additional support, which is preferably obtainedfrom the flexible 'web of the skid.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated with referenceto certain specific embodiments it will be understood that variationsand substitutions of equivalents may be resorted to within the scope ofthe appended claims.

I claim:

1. A shipping unit comprising in combination a pile composed oflaterally unsupported courses of filled bagsv of oblong shape eachcourse'containing at least one bag disposed longitudinally along oneside of said pile and another bag disposed between the inner sidethereof and the oppositeside of the pile and adjacent courses having alongitudinally disposed bag on opposite sides of said pile and a liftingskid located under the bottom course of the pile, said skid consistingessentially of a pair of parallel hollow members extendinglongitudinally under said pile and located centrally under saidlongitudinally disposed packages and having walls sufficiently rigid tosupport at least 25% of the weight of the pile and an internal sizesufficient to receive the forks of a lift truck and a flexible webconnecting said hollow members and having a length such as to supportthe central area of said bottom'course when they are lifted.

2. A shipping unit according to claim 1 wherein the hollow members aretubes composed of cardboard and the web is a sheet of paper having itsopposite ends looped around said tubes and connected together.

3. A lifting skid for transporting a pile composed of courses of oblongpackages wherein each course contains at least one package disposedlongitudinally along one side of the pile and a transversely disposedpackage between the inner side thereof and the-opposite side of the pileand adjacent courses have longitudinally and transversely disposedpackages on opposite sides of the-pile, said skid consisting essentiallyof a pair of parallel hollow members having walls sufiiciently rigid tosupport at least 25% of the weight of the pile and an internal sizesufficient to receive the forks of a lift truck and a flexible webconnecting said hollow members and having a-length-such that thehollow'members are located centrally under'the I longitudinally disposedpackages when the web is supporting the central area of the pile.

4. A lifting skid for transporting a pile composed of courses of oblongpackages wherein each course contains at least one package disposedlongitudinally along one side of the pile and a transversely disposedpackage between the inner side thereof and the opposite side of thepile-and adjacent courses have longitudinally and transversely disposedpackages on opposite sides of-the pile, said skid'consisting essentiallyof a pair of parallel tubes having walls sufficiently rigid to supportat least 25% of the weight of the pile and an internal size sutficientto receive the forks of a lift truck and a flexible web comprising asheet of paper having its opposite ends looped aroundsaid tubes andconnected together, the length of said webbeing such that the tubes arelocated centrally under'the longitudinally disposed packages when thewe'bis supporting the central area of the pile. i

